Nicholas Mosse Celebrates Donal Skehan's New Book

Last week Donal Skehan - www.donalskehan.com launched his new book Kitchen Hero - Great Food for Less at Dubray Books on Grafton Street, Dublin. Donal has an incredible passion for cooking which has been influenced greatly by his grandmother - "My grandmother is one of the most frugal self-taught cooks you will ever meet: she raised my mom and her six siblings with very little income, but that never stopped her producing wonderfully elegant meals at minimum expense."

Her influence can be seen clearly in his new book as he gives us fabulous meals to suit shrinking food budgets. This book embraces cooking on a shoe string and we could all pick up ideas from his tips with suggestions on cheaper fish and cuts of meat - to the proper way to save leftovers  and even growing your own.

We here at Nicholas Mosse are delighted because Donal has featured three of our pieces in his book - the first two are in our new ovenware range - the large rectangular oven dish in Old Rose is below and it's holding an Aubergine Lasagna.

Below in the Medium Oval oven ware dish in Red Tulip he serves up Boulangere Potatoes.

We love how he he captured the decorations we apply inside - which is what makes these pieces so perfect for oven to table use.

 Here is his delicious Carrot and Cardamon Cake is served on our 9" Apple Cake Plate.

 To celebrate the launch of his new book - we are giving away a signed copy of Kitchen Hero - Great Food For Less. What do you need to do to be in the running to win it?

Leave us a comment here on our blog or on our Facebook page - and tell us about a favourite family dish you like to cook - and is there a special way you like to serve it?

Happy Spring from Nicholas Mosse Pottery

 Hello Avid Nicholas Mosse Fans - somehow we are already  half way through April and we've been quite negligent on our blog posts of late. Our apologies. It's all been madly busy here at Nicholas Mosse HQ - our new Fuchsia pattern and our ovenware ranges are flying out of our own shop here and our retailers around the world. It's wonderful to get such a reception to the new lines but needless to say, we've been busy throwing, hand-decorating and firing enough pieces to meet the demand.
On the ground floor of our shop - this blue cupboard is filled with our new pasta server and bowls which come in all our patterns.

We've also been busy working on a brand new website for Nicholas Mosse - we've been photographing all the products and new lifestyle images. For those of you who have been into our shop here, you know that we have textiles also for sale - so a selection of those will also be up on our website as well - oven mitts, tea cosies, napkins, aprons, jam jar covers, runners and place mats.

Pictured above, a selection of our oven mitts.

 Fabrics by the metre or yard will continue to be sold just here in our own shop.

 As I mentioned earlier, Fuchsia is doing brilliantly and the image above and below shows most of the new range.

We will continue to have a blog on our new website but it will be incorporated directly into the site and not hosted in blogger. If you are eager for new images and would like to comment or enjoy regular updates - please head over and LIKE our Facebook page. We are also on Twitter - @NicholasMosse if you are interested in following us there.

See you again soon, Lisa

All Photographs by Eddie Cleary.

Our New Ovenware Range isOnline

Our new ovenware range which has been selling in our own Irish Country Shop since before Christmas has been selling like hot cakes. For those of you that cannot visit us in Bennettsbridge, I'm happy to let you know that it is all up on our website now.

Available in 5 different shapes - it is the first range from Nicholas Mosse that can truly go from oven to table.

 I've been lucky enough to test out a few pieces at home - and I have to say one of the best things, other than all the wonderful patterns, is that it cleans beautifully! The other weekend I made up a few individual cottage pies for my family in the small square dish - seen here in Clematis.

 I don't know about you but to me it just makes serving a meal that bit more pleasurable.

Here are all the shapes in all the patterns. I also love the medium oval dish. It's perfect for roasting carrots and parsnips.

We have an offer on our website just through Valentine's Week- until Sunday, 19th February.
If you purchase €100 or more on pottery on our website, you will receive a FREE Hanging Heart ornament with your order. (Terms and Conditions apply).

Be sure to LIKE our Facebook page and if you  are on Twitter follow us there @NicholasMosse.
We always love hearing from our fans and collectors.
Until next time, Lisa

New at Nicholas Mosse Pottery for 2012

Happy Belated New Year to you all. January just flew by as we've all been busy not only decorating our new ranges - Fuchsia, ovenware and pasta bowls - but also selling them at our annual trade show. So my apologies on the delayed blog post.

Our Irish Country Shop has been selling the ovenware since mid- December and it's been flying out the door. Fuchsia is not out in the shop yet but will be in the next few weeks.

 Up in our seconds area on the 1st floor, there is a great offer on our discontinued Old Rose Cappucino cups and saucers - now reduced to €29.00. They have such generous proportions and are perfect for warming your hands on a chilly day.

Above, one of our decorators applies the Old Rose pattern to our Small Square Ovenware Dish. Our ovenware range is the first range that can go from oven to table. Available in 5 different shapes, it comes in all our standard patterns - which totals 7 now that we've added Fuchsia.

The pasta bowls and server have a wonderful shape and they are top on my list for new purchases in 2012. The proportions are perfect not only for pasta but salads, soups, stews and more.             

Do be sure to LIKE our Facebook page if you have not already and Nicholas Mosse is now on Twitter too - @NicholasMosse. You can see photos of Fuchsia up on our Facebook page but I'll be sure to add images here next week. 

As always, we love hearing from all our fans - so drop us a line or leave us a comment.

See you soon, Lisa

                              

Dear Avid Nicholas Mosse Fan:

Much to our delight, we had an incredibly busy November here in our Irish Country Shop. Now December is here and the weather feels a bit more appropriate for this time of year.

For me it's exciting because I've been here at the pottery now for three months and I have learned so much about how our product is made and decorated. 

What is so special about working here at Nicholas Mosse is the fact that everything is beautifully hand-made. Did you know there are over 20 steps each piece goes through until it reaches our retail shelves? Today I just wanted to show you a part of the process. Here Francis Power, who has been with the company for over 30 years, is finishing some candlesticks. They've already been made and now he is doing the final detail on the bottom. As you can see above, the base is flat and below he's creating that rim on the bottom to complete the look.

 Francis has been doing this for so many years that it is second nature to him. But I find it so fascinating to watch and frankly am easily be mesmerized by the process. By the way, you can watch this when you visit us in Bennettsbridge as this all happens in an area that can be viewed by our visitors. I expect you too will find it as fascinating.

 Here they are lined up - finished and now will dry for a period of time.

There is not waste here at Nicholas Mosse, everything is re-cycled, re-used and re-worked where ever possible. Here is a skip filled with all the clay shavings and pieces that didn't make it onto the next stage. 

Moving onto the next stage, the candlesticks have been dipped in glaze and are heading to the kiln. Underneath the white glaze is the pattern and the white will burn off in the kiln turning to a shiny glaze.

In our next blog post, I'll show you some more images and details of decorating the pieces.

In the meantime, hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday season. Don't forget we are also on Facebook and you can also follow us on Twitter @NicholasMosse.

Until next time,

Lisa

Christmas Has Arrived at the Nicholas Mosse Irish Country Shop

Dear Avid Nicholas Mosse Fan:

Well, Christmas is here and our Irish Country Shop has been a beehive of activity all this month. Just after Halloween we rolled out all the Christmas trees and decorations and added a fabulous selection of ornaments, kitchen items, linens, glassware and loads of stocking stuffers throughout the store. We have a bed set up in the front window with three little piggies enjoying it.

 The shelves on the ground floor are groaning with plenty of products from all our patterns including Old Rose, Apple, Red Tulip, Landscape, Forget Me Not, Wildflower Meadow and Clematis plus we have discontinued lines including Cherry, Dahlia, Strawberry, Bloomy, Marigold, Daisy Days, Home Grown, City Cat with an extra discount.

 Up on the 1st floor our Seconds department has been very busy and there are still lots of goodies to choose from up there.

 The table on the ground floor is decorated with our  Reindeer Pattern - it's been featured in Food and Wine magazine and House and Home magazine this month. And doesn't Old Rose also look great?

Did you happen to see this week's edition of the Farmer's Journal and their Irish Country Living magazine? Nicholas himself is on the cover and we received a lovely editorial piece written by Maria Moynihan.
We hope to see you soon here at the shop- don't forget the cafe is fully stocked with deliciously dangerous goodies such as cupcakes, carrot cake, brownies and much more. Happy shopping everyone.
Until next time,

Lisa

Getting Ready for Savour Kilkenny: Making Carrot and Walnut Muffins

Dear Avid Nicholas Mosse Fan:
This bank holiday weekend, Kilkenny is going to be bustling with all people coming to Savour Kilkenny, so I thought in honour of that I'd put this Carrot and Walnut Muffin recipe up on our blog. I found the recipe in the November 2011 issue of UK County Living magazine in Tessa Webb's column Grow & Cook (recipe is on page 152). This past weekend I made 24 tiny muffins (as those were the only sized cases I had). Tested by my daughter, husband and neighbours -they are almost all gone. So that's good!

The recipe is really simple.

Carrot and Walnut Muffins
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 12

Ingredients:
250g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice (note: I did not have this on hand so I used ground ginger and cinammon and found it needed more that 1 teaspoon- you can adjust to your liking)
160g dark brown muscavado sugar
50g walnuts, chopped
2 medium eggs, beaten
160ml sunflower oil
125g carrots, grated (only about 1 large carrot)
2 very ripe bananas, mashed.

1. Heat the oven to 200C (180 C fan oven) gas mark 6. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, breaking down any lumps, followed by the nuts.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs and the oil. Quickly stir to combine, then add the carrot and banana and mix together again.
4. Divide the mixture between muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

They have a lovely autumn flavour to them. In the next batch I'm going to make bigger and might try by adding in some fresh ginger to give it a little extra punch.

Let me know if you end up making them yourself and don't forget we always love to see photos not only of your Nicholas Mosse collections but also of your cooking adventures.

You can email me directly at lisamcgee@nicholasmosse.com.

Lisa